until the stage of being turned over to the Operation Hard Rock had been completed and the results evaluated ”.
Operation Hard Rock was launched in July 1967 , two years behind the original schedule . That to this date , 1970 , ‘ after the passage of nearly three years ......... we are with no prospects of any mine being developed to the stage of being turned over to the proper agency for Operation , should be proof enough of the degree of reliance that could be placed ’ on such agreements with foreign powers .
Anyone would naturally ask as to where the country is being led in the name of the development of the public sector ? Is it not true that the public sector has been made into one of the most lucrative business operations for foreign private capital and for Soviet social imperialism ? Industrial Policy Resolution , 1956
It has been tried to show above , how the Industrial policy resolution has been nullified in various sectors in the interests of private capital in general and foreign monopoly capital in particular . Dr . Paresh Chattopadhyay in an article ,‘ Aspects of the growth of State Capitalism in India ’ has shown that exceptions to Schedule A and B have become an extremely normal practice . Of the seventeen industries listed in Schedule A of the Resolution , “ the future development of industries , which will be the exclusive responsibility of the State ( and in which ) all new units will be set up only by the State Seven industries at least have been opened to private interests . These are ( 1 ) arms , ( 2 ) heavy plant and machinery , ( 3 ) heavy electrical plant , ( 4 ) the processing of lead and zinc , ( 5 ) the production of telephone cables and telegraphic equipment , ( 6 ) the generation and distribution of electricity , ( 7 ) coal . The greatest shift towards the private sector took place in Schedule B , industries which , by the terms of the 1956 Resolution , were to be ‘ progressively State-owned and in which the State will therefore generally take the initiative ’. Of the
August - 2022 industries listed at least nine have been heavily financed by the private sector . ( These are ( 1 ) aluminum , ( 2 ) machine-tools , ( 3 ) ferro-alloys and tool-steels , ( 4 ) basic chemicals and intermediates , ( 5 ) antibiotics and other essential drugs , ( 6 ) fertilizer production , ( 7 ) synthetic rubber , ( 8 ) road transport , ( 9 ) sea transport ). Quite logically , Nehru told the 1962 session of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry , ‘ Private enterprise is a good thing . The suppression of private enterprise was bad ?” ( Socialist Digest : January 1969 )
In almost all the industries that have been listed above which have been opened to private interests , it is only the private foreign capital that has had the biggest push . Therefore , to say even in 1970 that the State sector is growing stronger and that it is playing an important part in reducing the power of the monopolies and in weakening the position of foreign capital is grossly misleading .
Every committee that has been set up by the Government of India - such as the Mahalanobis Committee , the Monopolies Enquiry Commission , the Industrial Licensing Policy Inquiry Committee have come out with innumerable substantiating instances and have categorically stated that , “ Government policy during the plan period has been responsible .... for the growth of the private sector and in the process especially of big companies .” ( Report of the Committee on the distribution of income and levels of living 1964 ). D . R . Gadgil ( late Vice- President of the Planning Commission ), in his “ Planning and Economic Policy of India ” had stated that , “ accumulation of gains and the rapid increase of economic resources and power in particular private hands can be described as a deliberate objective of official policy ”.
This deliberate objective of official policy has been successfully implemented through the State sector .
At this stage , there is no use in going into the details of various other ways in which the State has helped the private sector through the public institutions such as the Finance Corporations that have been established , or certain financial institutions that have been nationalized like LIC , or through the nationalized banks . There are different manner through which the State Financial Corporations have helped not only the big houses in India but also the foreign monopoly capital to dominate the industrial scheme .
Defence Production in Public Sector
The country is being informed that our defence production is progressing fast and that , therefore , we are much better prepared even against the combined forces of Pakistan and China . The increased production figures in the ordnance factories and other defence undertakings are prepared to show that India is growing in self-reliance in defence production . The truth will have to be pulled out by the ears from this fraud of official propaganda .
Self-reliance has no meaning so long as production is based on the import of essential components and raw materials and technical knowhow . Malhotra , in Times of India , October 14 , 1971 , in an article on defence production , ‘ No End of These Imports is in Sight ’, reports certain important facts which bring out our insight on our entire dependence on foreign powers and foreign finance capital for defence production .
For example , for the Vijayanta tank , the country has yet to import the gun as well as the infra-red equipment which gives the tank its eyes for movement after dark .
Reliance on import is even greater for not only MIG-21 but also for HF- 24 , “ even though it has been under production since the mid-fifties ”, is however the distressing dependence on foreign designs for almost all improvement weapons and equipment it will be naive to believe that any foreign country is giving India or will give it in future the very latest of its designs ”.
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